Met Police officer fired for anti-LGBTQ+ social media posts
A Metropolitan Police officer has been fired (Getty Images, stock)
An officer for the Metropolitan Police has been fired for sharing anti-LGBTQ+, misogynistic and ableist content on his social media accounts.
PC Alejandro Varela-Garcia, who worked for the Met’s South East Command Unit, posted footage that mocked women, people with disabilities and members of the LGBTQ+ community, the Met has shared.
A misconduct hearing on 3 July found that PC Varela-Garcia had breached professional standards of behaviour relating to discreditable conduct, equality and diversity, and orders and instructions, which amounted to gross misconduct.
Acting Detective Chief Superintendent James Derham, who leads the South East area, said in a statement: “This officer’s behaviour fell far below that expected of any police officer. Members of the public need to have trust in the police, and PC Varela-Garcia’s behaviour risks undermining that confidence in the force.”
He continued: “We have relentlessly pursued and removed officers who do not meet the standards we expect. In the last three years, more than 1,500 officers and staff have been exited from the organisation as a result of this work.”
Following the hearing, PC Varela-Garcia will be placed on a barred list held by the College of Policing. People on the list are banned from employment by the police and other policing bodies.
Police and harm to the LGBTQ+ community
The UK police has long been accused of harming the LGBTQ+ community, as well as deploying disproportional force and discriminatory policing practices.
However, some branches of the force are attempting to change that. The acting Chief Constable of West Midlands Police marked Pride Month this year by issuing a public apology for the historic “mistreatment of LGBTQ+ communities across the region”.
CC Scott Green shared an open letter on the matter, saying that he wanted to personally “sincerely and wholeheartedly apologise” for the past mistreatment by police against the community, which the force had previously shied away from referencing.
“I recognise laws were historically wrongly used to proactively target members of the LGBTQ+ community, in particular gay and bisexual men, and that this ruined lives having a lasting negative impact,” he wrote.
“As a result, people did not feel they could be open to be who they were or about the people they loved for fear they would be arrested and sent to prison.”
He continued: “This was completely wrong and for this I would like to extend a sincere apology for any recent and historic injustices and discrimination that members of LGBTQ+ communities in the West Midlands have faced.”
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